Yummy French Kids' School Lunches…this week in the heart of Provence

This blog post is part of my French Kids School Lunch Project. Every week, I post the school lunch menus from a different village or town in France, where three-course, freshly-prepared hot lunches are provided to over 6 million children in the public school system every day. These meals cost, on average, $3 per child per day (and prices for low-income families are subsidised). My hope is that these menus (together with my other blog posts about the French approach to kid’s food) will spark a conversation about what children CAN eat, and how we can do better at educating them to eat well.

This week we’re in Manosque, a small town best known for being the home of L’Occitan en Provence (some of my favorite French beauty products). Nestled against the highest hills in this region (the forested Verdon Regional Park), Manosque is a gateway to the sparsely populated foothills of the southern Alps. In the surrounding countryside, medieval villages surrounded by lavender fields (that’s why those creams smell so good) are tucked into the valleys between forested hills. It’s amazing to find such a wonderfully preserved region so close to the bustling Mediterranean coast.

ps Crème renversée is one of my favorite French desserts. For a great recipe for the ‘ Crème renversée of my dreams’ see La Tartine Gourmande, a delectable website run by a French expat living in the US.

11 thoughts on “Yummy French Kids' School Lunches…this week in the heart of Provence”

I’d love to be able to make this food for my boys for lunches (or even dinners) but have *absolutely* no idea how to make them. Some stuff (like the fruit, OJ, fromage blanc…) you can buy mostly unprocessed, and cous cous is easy…. but I’m totally clueless on the other stuff.

They do make a nice guide line where I can substitute similar things into the menu (like spaghetti with meat sauce instead). Also, to include a veggie, fruit, protein into lunch.

BTW: I’ve watched how you make crepes and it does seem a little daunting — the flipping part any way. But they do look really yummy.

Hello,
I think your blog is very interesting being of mixed cultural heritage myself! May I use some parts of your texts in a 4e ESL class in September? The theme I am prepapring is “Food” (Slow vs Fast, Obesity levels in teens, Snacking…)
Looking forward to hearing from you.

Oh man! I want to go back to France and put my daughter a la cantine…
This menu seems yummy… When I read my nephew school’s menu in Toulon (our hometown), I am a bit “jealous”… well, I guess I’ll pack the kids lunch until college -_-

Bettina, Laura, Kia–thanks for your comments! I really do hope that reading these menus gives people the idea that we can do things differently. Will try to blog this week about communities in North America that have committed to making healthy, tasty, fresh menus. In fact, if you have any suggestions of schools or communities you’d like to highlight, let me know!

Oh… crêpes. They are my favorite… we actually have them in the MOMables menus but haven’t made them ‘live’ yet since I wasn’t sure how American parents would react to them. They are one of my favorite staples from growing up …